( in full the Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere )
a private US charity. It was established as the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe in 1945, to help Europeans after the World War II by sending CARE packages of food and other items. Today these are sent to refugees (= people forced from their homes by war or other events) and people who have survived natural disasters. The phrase ‘CARE package’ is sometimes also used in a humorous way to mean a parcel of items sent by US parents to children who are away from home.